Navigating Fertility Misinformation on Social Media

In this Pharmaceutical Executive video interview, Dr. Lawrence B. Werlin, MD, FACOG of HRC Fertility (@md.lawrence.werlin on TikTok), discusses the challenges of addressing fertility misinformation on social media. He emphasizes the importance of providing accurate and reliable information and encourages patients to consult with healthcare professionals. He also discusses the ethical considerations of using social media to share personal and professional experiences in the field of fertility.

What are the biggest misconceptions about fertility that you see circulating on social media? How do you work to correct these misconceptions and the spread of misinformation?

it's not an easy question to answer, Miranda. There are a lot of things that are packed into that comment. But let me start out by saying number one, I think that social media can be very, very beneficial in that it can impart an educational approach to fertility and fertility issues. On the flip side, you also know that there are many people who get on the social media, on TikTok, on Instagram, on whatever it may be, and tell stories that may or may not be factual.

Part of the problem that we deal with is that many times patients that we see come to us with questions that they've heard on TikTok or on Instagram or on Facebook or some social media aspect and are confused about what it really means. So, I think that the critical thing for us, and the thing that I typically do for me, is two things. Number one, when I meet with the patients, I try to give them an overview of what what goes on when they get evaluated by a fertility specialists and I try and explain to them what happens to them, what their evaluation is, what that evaluation means, and what their ultimate likelihood for success is depending on what they do.

The second thing I try to do is every Wednesday, at about 12:15pm I do a TikTok, which is called Wednesdays with the Werl. And when I do that TikTok, I effectively will pick a topic and will review that topic with the people who are involved on the TikTok, and then I open it up to questions. And maybe once a month, people have questions constantly. So once a month, I will actually do that Wednesdays with the world and only go through questions that people ask and try and answer them and give them the best answer that I can. I think the most important thing that I try to have patients take away from this is that one, it's educational, and two, what medicine is, is definitely a science.

But reproductive medicine is also an art, and how people do things can be different. My way of doing things is certainly my way of doing things, but it doesn't mean that it's the only way. There are other ways that you may approach a similar problem. It doesn't mean they're right or wrong. It just means that there are other ways to do things. And I think it's important, and I think it's important that when people go to these social media scenarios, that they take away from it, whatever it is they do, and then when they talk to their fertility physician — they can give them the pros and cons about what they ask. So, I think that's how hopefully I would try to approach it.